fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
The Campervan Thread
- Thread starter Drago
- Start date
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BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
The key thing, IMHO, is to work out how YOU (and your wife) plan to use it.
Something that size has obvious advantages in terms of space and comfort, but, it also has some downsides:
- where are you going to park it when not in use?
- once you have arrived at your destination, what are you going to use for transport (something that size is not ideal for a visit to the supermarket)
- where do you plan to go?, if planning to visit countries outside of UK, there may be implications with ferry costs, weight restrictions, road tolls, bridge tolls, for example
After retirement, we spent 15 years when we spend 5 or 6 months each year roaming mainland Europe, we typically went on two "expeditions" per year, 3 months, and, another 2 or 3 months later in the year. That was all in Motorhomes of approximately 6.5 - 7 metres in length, and, using bicycles and/or motor scooter and/or public transport when "onsite".
Finally, again, IMHO, layout is all, and is closely linked to how YOU plan to use it.
Gwylan
Guru
- Location
- All at sea⛵
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
OP
OP
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Just dont mention the war!
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Living in one in winter will be miserable unless you go abroad.
BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
Well, that is what we did for 6 months of the year, for each year for 15 years.
There is a difference between living in a van in (say) Spain, in January, and UJ in January.
Is she wanting to just "live" in one place, or, move around, if stay in one place, why not a caravan, if move around, all of the points about size vs ease of access apply.
Gwylan
Guru
- Location
- All at sea⛵
Refillable gas tanks and a dehumidifier make winter vanning comfortable. 240v is very handy too
Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
Last edited:
OP
OP
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Wally wagoneer!
BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
- Location
- South Tyneside
In that case, personally, I would go for sub 7 metres.
I can explain what we did (until wife's health changed our life style), if that helps, but, we are all different, our idea of "fun" may be your idea of hell, plus, some things are better afterwards, than at the time they are actually happening..
Typical routine was:
After Christmas (wife insisted on being home for Christmas, with family), ie January or possibly February, we would set off for Spain or Portugal (nothing booked, except outward channel crossing). We live near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so, Dover is 350 mile drive approximately.
We saved Tesco vouchers, to get a discounted tunnel crossing, if not, we would take Dover-Dunkirk DFDS Ferry.
To get us there, we would plan 300-350 miles per day.
Bearing in mind the 350 mile drive to Dover, we would book a late evening crossing, with a view to arrive in France, approximately 22:00 - 23:00 French time. We would then drive South for about an hour, possibly two, to one of a number of "safe" Aires we knew of, stop, and sleep. This first stop would get us as far South as Abbeville, or, Baie de Somme, or Rouen, or even Neaufchatel-en-Bray.
I would explain here, go on any motorhome / camper van forum, and, there will be heated discussions about the use of aires/sites etc (they are typically about as calm and resigned as helmet debates on a cycling forum). Our take was, if we were just going to overnight, and Aire was fine, but, we didn't want to spend two weeks in a carpark, even if it was free or cheap. There are alll kinds of tales of robbery etc, we never encountered anything like that, but, we did exercise what I would call "common sense" ie just like in UK, if a place didn't "feel right", we didn't stay there.
Day two, we would be on the road 08:00, and head South, using none Toll roads (eg A28/A10/N10 typically), and heading more or less due south toward the Spanish Border. One of the reasons for using this route was weather, France can be remarkably cold in January, but, this route was typically snow free in the 15 years we used it. Depending on traffic, weather, how we felt, we would aim to cover 300-350 miles, which would put us around Poitiers or thereabouts.
Day three, if the indications were that snow was unlikely, we would head for Oloron-Sainte Marie, and the (free) Somport tunnel, if, on the other hand, there was snow, or, it looked likely, we would keep West and head for San Sebastián. This decision was also tempered by if we were heading for Mediterranean or Portugal.
Day four, if heading for Mediterranean, we would aim to get there, typically Valencia area, if heading for Portugal, we would head toward Caceres.
There after, we would typically use sites, and stay at each for anything from 2 weeks to a month. We never found it necessary to book in advance (just watch out for holiday times like Easter, when sites do get full).
We typically stayed in Spain or Portugal until spring (say April/May), then, meander back through France, typically keeping more to the east, as the weather improved. Sometimes using on of the other (free) Pyrenees Tunnels (Beilsa or Vielha) to arrive, eventually at Calais at a very leisurely pace, to return home for the English "summer", then, in late August/September, we would "do" Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Netherlands etc.
We did all that in a variety of 6.5-7metre motorhomes, sometimes towing a trailer, with motorcycle, and, always, carrying bicycles.
Generally speaking, it was great fun, but, there were some downers, like, the year we were heading South on our wedding anniversary (31st Jan), the weather was atrocious (monsoon like rain), We (well, I) took a wrong turning, the road was too narrow to turn around, with trailer, we had to get out, unhitch trailer (in pouring rain), turn van around, re-attach trailer. Then, when we arrived at our chosen stop (an Aire), it was under two metres of flood water, so, we had to spend the night in a nearby car park. My wife does occasionally remind me of that day, sometimes, she is smiling about it 😂
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Z’ha’dum
One of the beauties of campervans and caravans is flexibility
SOme old neighbours of mine had a campervan - they got it as he was allergic to some food and she was to others
so eating out was complicated and in the camper they could just cook for themselves
and one year they planned out a months touring around France and Spain
when they got to the port in France the farmers were getting grumpy and blocking roads all over
so they toured Germany and Poland instead and had a great time
SOme old neighbours of mine had a campervan - they got it as he was allergic to some food and she was to others
so eating out was complicated and in the camper they could just cook for themselves
and one year they planned out a months touring around France and Spain
when they got to the port in France the farmers were getting grumpy and blocking roads all over
so they toured Germany and Poland instead and had a great time
OP
OP
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Its a shame the French farmers, truckers and fishists weren't so keen to get out and about in 1940! History could have been very different.
I've just been out and fired up the webasto water in mine. Needs firing up for a few minutes every 6 or 8 weeks and as the sun is shining it seemed a good time. Even if its showing at the end of October, and I sincerely prey that it is, me and Bruce will be toasty.
I've just been out and fired up the webasto water in mine. Needs firing up for a few minutes every 6 or 8 weeks and as the sun is shining it seemed a good time. Even if its showing at the end of October, and I sincerely prey that it is, me and Bruce will be toasty.
